STORY EIGHT: IN THE ATL (aka THE REUNION)
Faith slipped out of the club, brushing past a few partygoers with more stamina than she had. Blaring music seemed to follow her for half the block as she left Level 3 behind. It was three in the morning - pretty early, really - and all she wanted to do was crawl into a hotel room and sleep for a week.
Except sleep was bad. Sleep meant she'd have to lay there in the dark, alone, and then dream. About him.
Fuck that. She stalked down the dark streets, hoping to run into a vampire or two. Anything she could beat the shit out of, any excuse for some mindless violence.
As she rounded a corner, turning onto a shopping street, Faith stopped and listened. She could have -
CRASH!
The window right in front of her shattered as someone was thrown into and through it.
In a flash, Faith drew a stake, ready to face what was coming out after -
"Buffy?"
Buffy Summers grimaced in pain, holding onto her side. She had a huge cut across her cheek and a bruise on her forehead. She looked up at the person she had nearly smashed into. "Ow..." Her brows rose. "Faith?" She got to her feet, cringing more from the glass beneath her hands.
Faith stared at the blonde Slayer, blinking to reassure herself this was actually happening. "What the hell? What's going on?"
"Oh, you know... just getting thrown through random large windows," she murmured.
"Nothing out of the ordinary, huh?" Faith asked with a grin.
"I think that's YOU who has problems going through windows... or wait, that's you having problems not staying atop buildings too well."
"Hey, you started that one," Faith pointed out with a laugh.
Buffy dusted her self off after giving Faith a small grin. She straightened up. "What are you doing all the way down her in Atlanta?"
"Right now? Wondering who's the one doing the throwing..."
Buffy glanced from the darkness of the building. "A Slayer. Really stubborn one, too."
"What?" Faith looked into the building. "What'd you do to piss her off?"
Buffy shook her head. "I said, 'hey, I'm Buffy. I wanna help you 'cause I know you're a Slayer'? then we fought a little. I really didn't wanna fight."
Faith nodded. "Kind of a livewire, huh?"
She sighed. "The girl was hiding from the cops, though. I have a really bad, deja vu feeling about this."
"Oh." Faith winced. "This is going to be fun." She took another look into the building. "You up for tracking the chick down?"
Buffy glanced over at Faith then shrugged. "I could handle it myself, but yeah, sure. I'll give you something to do."
"Yeah, you looked like you were handling it pretty good. What was the next part of your plan after getting kicked through the window?" Faith asked with a grin.
Buffy couldn't help but grin and shook her head. "Fine. So I need help. Even if it is from you."
"There... that wasn't so hard. Plus, funny. Where'd you first run into her?"
"Giles was informing me about her," she answered, moving towards the broken glass again.
"How is the G-Man anyway?"
"Giles? Oh, you know, Giles is Giles." She smiled. "He just can't get enough of this whole Hellmouth thing so he hung around after we left Sunnydale. Which is kinda nice, to still have him, ya know?"
"Yeah, must be," Faith replied.
"We're in Cleveland for now, and we try to bring in as many of the new Slayers as we can find. I got to travel this time around, although Giles is better at this than me. Must be a Watcher thing. Anyway, he was worried about this one because she had this kinda bad record with the police here."
"How bad?" Faith wondered. "Are we talking petty stuff or serious attitude?"
Buffy looked over at Faith. "Petty stuff with serious attitude... until a few days ago when she took down an entire bar in this place in the Highlands. She hurt a lot of people; good thing they all lived, though. Giles just had this hunch about... well, it has to do with her gaining a little bit of power." She made a little pinch space between her index finger and thumb.
"Power trip, huh?" Well, guess I came here just in time. "How do we want to play this? I can talk to her... or does Giles have some kinda plan?"
"Oh, yeah. His plan? To send good old Buffy to handle this one."
"Man." Faith shook her head slowly. "Giles must be losing it in his old age..."
"Did you fucking have ENOUGH, Bitchy the Vampire Slayer!" came a voice with a slight southern accent.
"Lemme guess?"
Buffy rolled her eyes. "Meet Sandy." She gestured towards the darkness as if the girl was standing there. "I tried talking, and look what happened."
"Okay. I have a plan. We beat her ass and then I talk to her. How's that sound?"
"You know, for all the talk about you changing and regretting in the mistakes of your past in jail, you still have the same Faith way you always had."
Faith shrugged. "Hey, I am who I am... Besides, you got any other ideas?"
Buffy pondered that a moment. "Yeah, let's do that." She stepped through the hole. "Hey, Sandy! Come on, I don't wanna keep doing it the hard way. My poor, old back can't handle any more windows."
A full paint can came flying from the darkness, Buffy barely ducking in time.
Faith watched as the can hit the street and exploded, covering the blacktop with green paint. "I'm really starting to not like this chick," she told Buffy. "Time for the hard way."
She leapt through the broken window and landed inside the store, peering around in search of this Sandy.
"Uh, don't totally beat her into submission," Buffy whispered as she crept behind Faith. "We do want her in one piece when we get her back to Giles."
Faith feigned a hurt look. "Hey, c'mon... I can be gentle."
"C'mon, y'all!" Sandy called. "I don't have time for this! The cops will be coming for me soon, and I wanna be out of here!" There was a shuffling and another object came flying out. "You can't take me, Buffy! What the hell kind of name is that anyway?"
"Don't SAY anything," she warned Faith to the remark. "Why don't you try to find a way to get her from behind?"
"Right." Faith slipped off into the darkness and worked her way through the store, slowly creeping up behind a blonde girl in a long leather coat. She had pink streaks in her hair, too, and it was all Faith could do not to snicker. Oh, this chick's got problems.
Faith looked around, didn't spot anything even remotely resembling a weapon, then shrugged and launched herself at Sandy, tackling her to the ground. Before the other girl could recover, Faith was sitting on her back, one arm pressed up against the back of her neck.
"Howdy," Faith told the young Slayer.
"Why couldn't I have done that?" Buffy muttered to herself as she approached the two Slayers. She smiled, squatting down near Sandy for her to see her. "Gotcha."
Sandy struggled but had major leverage issues from her position. "Fuck you! What the hell! Get OFF me!" She tried to buckle from below.
"Not yet," Faith replied, shifting slightly to make sure Sandy didn't get any leverage.
"We just want to talk to you, Sandy," Buffy explained. "We're here to help you. We know you recently got... well, faster, stronger - all of the above and then some."
"So! It's the best fucking thing that's happened to me! I get whatever I want, WHENEVER I want!"
Faith stared down at Sandy for a few seconds, considering how best to respond. Finally she settled on "Grow the fuck up."
Buffy looked up at Faith with a quirk of her brow then back at Sandy. "Okay, well, wasn't gonna go there yet, but point is you can't just go around beating up people just 'cause you can. That's not why you were chosen."
Sandy kept struggling. "What? Chosen? For what? It's MY life - I can do whatever I want with it. I don't know what the hell a Slayer is, but I know I can carjack any car I wanna. Get as much money as I can. That's all I NEED! You aren't my fucking parents!"
"You're right," Faith said, ducking down and speaking right into Sandy's ear. "We're not. That means we can pound the shit out of you if that's what it takes to make you listen. See - Buffy there, she's big on giving people second chances. Me, not so much. Who do you want to be in charge of this intervention?"
Sandy glanced up at the blond Slayer who just shrugged. "Fine! Just get the hell off me, then!"
Faith looked over at Buffy. 'Ya think?' she mouthed. If it were up to her, Sandy would stay where she was until this was all sorted out.
Buffy stood up and nodded, motioning for Faith to follow through. "We should get her a little more comfortable with what we are gonna say next."
"All right." Faith stood up and backed away from Sandy. She glanced at Buffy again, then at Sandy. "Here comes the weird part..."
Sandy stood up glancing between the two and then went after Buffy. Buffy sidestepped the charging girl, kicking her hard in the back. Sandy sprawled to the ground, dazed while Buffy reached down and grabbed her up, slamming her against the wall. "How'd I know you were going to do that?" She held her firm by the throat. "Now, just listen to me, Sandy. This isn't what this power is used for; not fighting me, not fighting Faith. We're on YOUR side. You're one of us." She blinked. "Wow, that WAS weird," she added looking over at Faith.
"I'm not like either one of you fucking bitches!" Sandy declared, trying to break out of Buffy's grip.
"No denying that," Faith said easily. "Would you stop being an asshat and listen to us for a second? Here's the deal. You're a Slayer... chosen to fight the powers of darkness, demons, vampires, zombies, all that fun stuff. That's why you're so strong all of the sudden."
"Fight what?" Sandy asked in sudden confusion. "There's no such thing!"
"Sorry. Is so." She looked over at Buffy. "What'd I miss? Maybe we need to do some show and tell for her?"
"I'd tell you that you forgot the whole 'The one girl in all the world...' speech, but I guess that doesn't apply anymore, does it?" Buffy looked back at Sandy. "Yeah, I think we can do some show and tell." She jerked Sandy by the front of her jacket from the wall. "I know a nice large graveyard we can walk through."
"What for?" she asked, her toughness faltering a notch at the thought.
"So you can see for yourself that there are such things," Faith replied. "Don't worry. We'll protect you," she added with a wink.
Buffy still held Sandy by the jacket as they stood in the middle of a large cemetery on the outskirts of the city. The half moon shown up in the clear sky. "Do you sense anything?" she asked Sandy.
Sandy was sulking but she had calmed down a lot since they got there. "I sense I'm being fucking held prisoner by the both of you," she answered.
Faith was tempted to slap Sandy in the back of the head. Even I was never this bitchy, she told herself. "Quit your whining, will you? This is for a good cause. Now answer the question. DO you sense anything? Little shiver running down your back? Some kinda tickle in your head?"
"No!" Sandy snapped.
"Well, damn."
"I think it comes with age," Buffy murmured to Faith. Suddenly, Buffy swung Sandy around, kicking the figure coming up behind them. The vampire landed a few feet back, none too happy with the encounter. "Faith, maybe you could...?" She nodded towards Sandy, nudging the young Slayer towards her. "I have a feeling you'd be better suited to babysit her."
"B, what'd I do to deserve this? Can't I kill the vamp?"
Sandy frowned, trying to hide the surprise from witnessing the vampire. "I don't fucking need any babysitting!"
"Uh-huh. Buffy, c'mon..."
Buffy shrugged, glancing over her shoulder and seeing the vampire making a run for it. She rolled her eyes. "Ugh, I hate when they make me give chase!" Then she took off after it.
"Bye," Faith called, waving cheerfully as Buffy ran off. Great. Stick me with the psycho.
Sandy crossed her arms. "Can I just go away now?"
"No. If I have to put up with you, you have to put up with me," Faith said, resting up against a nearby tree. "So what's your story, anyway?" she asked Sandy.
"What do ya' mean 'what's my story'?" Sandy growled. "I just survive; end of story. Bet you and Barbie have no idea what that's like when it doesn't have anything to do with... monsters and stuff." She kicked at a rock. "This is stupid. I have better ways of spending my time and my cool new 'Slayer' powers."
"Are you really this stupid or do you just pretend you are?" Faith asked. "Cuz you have no idea what I know or don't know. You want to know what I know?"
Faith took a few steps forward, almost grinning when Sandy shrank back. She told the pink-striped girl all about her own miserable life. Even leaving out everything involving Sunnydale, it still took ten minutes just to hit the highlights. "So," Faith concluded, "don't act like you're the only one who's ever been kneedeep in the shit."
Sandy couldn't even look at Faith in the eyes as she told part of her life story. She didn't want to show that Faith had topped her own life's horrors. "Fine, you know what I'm going through. Yay for you. But I know how to use what I got to MY advantage. These powers are making my life so much easier and I'm not getting sucked into believing I'm gonna make a difference around here. If you're this Slayer and Buffy's this Slayer, then there's gotta be a hell of a lot more of you guys. One less isn't gonna make a fuck of a difference. NOW can I go?"
Faith rolled her eyes. She was getting closer, but it hadn't quite sunk in yet. "No. Yeah, there's a lotta Slayers these days. But guess what?"
"What?" Sandy asked just ready to shoot back whatever Faith had to give her.
"There's a hell of a lot more vampires and demons." Faith smiled grimly. "You're drafted. Deal with it, Sandy. You wanna try and use your powers for stupid, go ahead. You won't get far."
"Why not? Aren't you and Barbie pretty much unstoppable? I'll deal with these supposed vampires when they get in my way, along with everyone else. I got the powers; I can deal with them no problem." She sighed and decided that asking if she could go was useless so she decided to make up her own mind and start to walk away.
"You're tough, but you're not bulletproof," Faith called out. If that didn't work, she figured she could tackle the kid and slap some sense into her. Literally.
Sandy snickered, throwing a hand over her shoulder, shooting Faith the bird. "Whatever, Angelia Jolie wanna be! We'll see how much they'll have time even getting out their guns."
"God, you are stupid." Faith kicked slightly, launching a rock at Sandy. The small stone bounced off the other girl's forehead.
Sandy winced at the impact, rubbing the spot on her forehead. "Ouch, you bitch! That hurt!"
"Surprise! You're dead."
Sandy's knitted blond brows relaxed a bit at the lesson learned. "That's... that's way different, what you did there. I wasn't expecting that!"
I'm not surprised, Faith thought. "Nobody ever is," she said with a sage look on her face. "Seriously, Sandy. I've been where you are - even if my hair was better - and I know where it ends up. You'll be dead or some fat con's bitch in a year or two if you keep it up."
"That'll be my lesson then," Sandy murmured. "Till then..."
"Have you listened to one damn word I've said?" Faith asked impatiently.
"Yeah, I have! You're almost as bad as the blond one!"
Faith's eyes widened. "Hey! Don't say shit you're gonna regret later."
"So, I get put in jail - didn't hold you. It wouldn't hold me. I'll deal!"
"You're not listening. I didn't get 'put' in jail, I let them take me. If it comes down to it, it's going to be you against a buncha SWAT guys with machine guns. Who do you think is going to win that one?"
Sandy had to ponder that one. "I guess I..." That's when a figure of the fanged kind tackled her from behind, sending them both near Faith's feet.
"Oh, for - " Faith grabbed the vampire up by its hair. A mullet - a vampire with a mullet. She laughed. "Hey! I'm trying to be all parental here, freak. Thanks a lot." She staked the creature, then turned to Sandy. "You okay?"
Sandy got shakily to her feet. "Y-yeah... where'd the hell did he come from? I thought Buffy was gonna take care of it?"
"Different vamp. Told you, there's a lot of 'em."
Buffy came up behind Sandy. "Have you guys bonded?" she asked.
Sandy, startled, turned and shot out her fist only to be caught by Buffy. "You scared the fuck out of me!"
Buffy let go. "Oh, um, sorry. I do that sometimes. I don't know my own stealth."
"That's not hard," Faith joked.
She looked over at Faith. "Is she ready?"
Faith glanced at Sandy. "Are you?"
Sandy looked confused as Buffy stood beside Faith. "For what?"
Buffy nodded behind her. "I've had my fun. Now it's your turn."
Sandy turned around as two other vampires approached her. "Wait, I don't know what to do!"
"What? Just pretend they're me and Faith." Buffy leaned back on a gravestone.
"Pretend you're me," Faith added.
"Oh. Don't forget this." Buffy pulled out a stake and tossed it to Sandy.
Sandy caught it, looking at it. "Wh-what do I do with it?"
"Shove it into their hearts," Faith instructed, keeping her own at the ready in case Sandy ran into trouble. She saw that Buffy had drawn another one for the same reason. "Go kick that ass."
Sandy took in a breath and approached the two vampires just to show Buffy and Faith she COULD do it.
As Sandy and the two vamps fought, Buffy watched. "I think maybe you cracked her with your boring speech," she told Faith.
"Shoulda let you do it, you're so good at it," Faith pointed out, watching Sandy. Girl had some potential, she had to admit.
"You'll be happy to know I've cut down on those things. Where've you been since you left the big yellow bus? You and Robin just kinda... took off."
"Yeah..." Faith shook her head. "It's a long story, B."
"Are you still with him? Well, obviously, not now..." She winced when Sandy got kicked in the face. "Ooo, she should've seen that one coming a mile away."
"Well, it is two against one." Faith shrugged. "And no, not with Robin. Not with anybody," she said, hoping Buffy would drop it before it all came out.
"Oh," Buffy said, picking up Faith's tone. "Bad break up?"
"Yeah." She stared at Sandy, who had managed to take out one of the vampires. "Think she learned her lesson?"
Buffy looked over at Sandy, pushing off the gravestone. "Yeah, but she's about to end it in a bad way." She could see that Sandy had made a mistake by taking a split second to enjoy the fact that she had dusted one of them. Buffy ran over there, using a gravestone to propel herself at the second vampire, smashing him into the ground. She staked the vampire quickly through his back.
Faith watched and muttered "Show-off" under her breath.
"You did good," Buffy said, standing up. "But when there's more than one you have to kind of pay attention to more than one."
Sandy looked exhausted and bloodied up pretty good. She put her hand up against her bleeding nose. "Shit."
"It heals. You believe it now?"
"I... guess."
"I'm not really good at explaining things, but I know someone who can. It'll help you a lot more if you knew more about your destiny. Unfortunately, I didn't listen when it was explained to me so..." She scanned the area. "I think that's all who's rising tonight. Come on, let's get you cleaned up and get you something to eat. I bet you're hungry."
Sandy put her hand over her stomach. "Actually, I'm starving."
"Welcome to the club." Faith patted Sandy on the shoulder. She grinned at Buffy, who clearly expected Faith to tell Sandy the other half of the post-Slayer hunger. "So where's a good place to eat cheap at five in the morning?"
Sitting in the middle of a midtown Wafflehouse, the three Slayers ate some of the greasiest food Buffy never wanted to ingest again. She sat back in the booth. "Oh, blech. That was so gross." But her plate was clean.
"Huh?" Faith asked, wiping maple syrup off her face. "You dissin' this? I haven't eaten this good in weeks, B. What about you?" she asked Sandy.
But Sandy was dozing off atop the table. "Okay, no answer there," Buffy answered. "I told you this stuff was bad for you. It puts you in a butterball coma." She sighed, leaning back. "I need to call Giles soon. Willow might be driving him a little wacky. She kinda gets excited when she finds new Slayers to track down. She usually gets to do this stuff." A sadness fell over her face then. "Kinda like the old days."
"You miss it?" Faith asked. She could count the good memories from Sunnydale on one hand.
"There's a lot of things I miss," Buffy said, quietly. "It's good that Giles and I got through the rift we had. I was being stupid. Really, even. And I love it that Giles got to follow me and Will to the other Hellmouth. But..." She trailed. "Xander upped and left one night. And I think about him sometimes. I know he's safe 'cause Willow did this spell to at least tell us that much, but still... I just wonder what happened. He never talked to us." She reached for her coffee and sipped at it, thoughtfully.
Faith stared down at her own coffee. She had to tell Buffy, no doubt about it... but HOW? "Yeah. Well... Xander's doing okay for himself," she told Buffy.
Buffy looked up at Faith. "Trying to make me feel better, are you? Since when was that your 'thing'?"
"Hey, c'mon," Faith said, genuinely hurt.
"Uh..." She was a little surprised at the reaction. "I didn't mean it like that, Faith. I'm sorry." She put her mug down, eying the other Slayer carefully. "Wait, you're NOT just saying that? You KNOW?"
"Yeah, I know." She smiled crookedly. "All right, you deserve it..." She sighed, then gave Buffy an update on her adventures with Xander, starting with San Francisco and ending in DC - taking care to omit some of the NC-17 details for Buffy's sanity's sake.
"Oh..." Buffy sat back in the seat again. "I didn't expect... I mean, you and Xander never talked so that's why with the surprise of you and him..." She blinked. "You and him?"
"Me and him." Faith finished her coffee. "Over, though."
"Over. Okay, run this by me again - you left Washington D.C because...?"
Faith glared at the other Slayer. "Do we have to get into this now, B? I haven't slept in thirty hours."
"Faith, you told me you saw him with another girl. Some... Initiative girl. And they were... did you say kissing?"
"Buffy, I told you, I don't wanna get into this now," Faith snapped. She looked around for their waitress. "Let's just pay and go, okay?"
"Faith..." She sighed, not even moving to look for the waitress. Sandy was still asleep anyway. "What did he do to you to make you leave? He's kinda notorious for doing stupid things."
"Great, fine. Thanks for leaving it alone," Faith said, then told Buffy what had happened.
"So you opened up the van and saw him HOLDING the girl's hand?" Buffy shook her head slightly. "I never thought you'd be the jealous type, truthfully." She hid behind her mug as she took a sip.
"Look, Buffy. Xander's - I know you've known him forever, but you gotta admit he's got some shaky history when it comes to women. I thought we had something good, then I turn around for ten minutes and he's already putting the moves on some Army chick." Faith took another look around for their waitress. "I'm sick of it."
"I know Xander, and yes, I've known him forever - but it really sounds like he loves you, and I know how it feels to be on the otherside of that. It's genuine, and I really don't think he meant anything. He's not like that."
Faith stared across the table. "Cordelia? Willow? Anya? You? Who hasn't he screwed with, B?"
"Okay, I admit, his women history is shaky at best... but don't you think maybe, um, you didn't see what you THINK you saw? So this isn't the first time he's made the moves on someone other than you?"
"I know what I saw, Buffy," Faith said. "That was the first time... that I saw," she admitted.
"Okay..." She shrugged. "If you knew all about his history, why did you two even become anything?"
"Why did you hook up with a vampire?" Faith asked in reply. "It just happened."
"But it happened because I gave him the benefit of a doubt," Buffy said. "I trusted him. I think I remember a time when I saw you and him doing the hugging thing, and yeah, I got just a tad jealous. But you know what? I talked to him and found out what he REALLY was doing. It ended up it was a different story than I saw and we ARE talking about Angel, right?"
"I thought we were," Faith said slowly. "Look, Buffy... I know you're sticking up for him, but it's over. I don't want to talk about it," she told Buffy in an end-of-discussion tone.
"Okay." She shrugged again. "I wasn't sticking up for him; I was sticking up for the thing called a 'relationship.' It is pretty funny about you and him being anything at all, actually." She chuckled. "Talk about WAY opposites."
"Yeah. Too opposite, I guess," Faith grumbled. Well, at least someone is amused by all this. "Let's wake up sleeping beauty and get out of here," she said, standing up. "I need to sleep."
Buffy nodded. "Hey, uh, since I have you here, is there a number I could give Giles? Just in case we... he might need you?" She reached over and shook Sandy slightly. She stirred a bit.
"Yeah." Faith rattled off the number for her cell phone. "C'mon, kid, rise and shine," she said, poking Sandy.
Sandy murmured something and blinked back the sleepiness as Buffy took out the cash to pay for all the platters. She stood up. "Come on, Sandy," she told the new Slayer. "The sooner we get to Cleveland, the better." She looked at Faith. "Do you have a place to stay?"
"Not yet," Faith replied. "Cleveland, huh?"
"Yeah. So far, like Sunnydale except with bigger buildings."
"Sounds like fun."
Buffy reached into her purse and handed Faith a key card. "The Marriott Marquee downtown. I have it for one night, but it doesn't look like I need it. It's on Giles."
"Oh, hey, you shouldn't - but thanks," Faith said, pocketing the key. "Tell Giles I said thanks when you see him."
"I will."
"Who the fuck is Giles?" Sandy asked. She stretched and grimaced in soreness.
"Your new boss," Faith said. "You gonna be okay with her?" she quietly asked Buffy.
Buffy nodded. "Yeah." She moved towards the door. "Hey, uh, take care of yourself. And... thanks for telling me about Xander. I'm glad he had someone to watch over him. If you ever swoop by Cleveland, look me up."
"Will do." Faith grinned, then hugged Buffy. "You stay outta trouble, okay?"
"You try saying that to the mirror sometimes," Buffy snickered.
"Hey! I never get into trouble," Faith protested.
"Stay safe, Faith." With that, she led Sandy out the door who only glanced at Faith.
"Nice meeting you too, kiddo."
The door to the hotel room that Buffy lent to Faith slowly opened. Xander's head peeked in, looking into the dimmed room. He slipped in and tried carefully not to trip over or knock over anything. He stopped, however, when he saw Faith sleeping quietly in the queen-sized bed. God, how much he missed her. And it had been less than two days since they had been separated. But still... every moment hurt. It had been the most time that they had been away from each other, and to know WHY it happened...
He crept up to the bed and squatted down near her. He carefully placed the cell phone that belonged to her on the nightstand and contemplated about just sitting there, watching her or getting up and going. Instead, he had to do what he thought was fair. If she wanted him gone for good, he'd know. He reached over and shook her gently. "Faith?" he whispered.
Faith grabbed the intruder's wrist and twisted - at the last second, she recognized him, sparing Xander a few broken bones.
"Gah!" Xander cried, automatically trying to pull away before his wrist became two parts.
"Jesus! Xander - what? How?" she stammered, staring up at him in the darkness, a dozen emotions running through her heart. Confusion was the main one, though.
"Uh, first of all, how about letting go? Just in case you happen to get the urge again?" He nodded towards her hold on his wrist.
She let go in a flash, mumbling "Sorry."
"And secondly, I, uh, just came to return your phone. You left it in the motel back in D.C."
"Oh." Faith stared at the phone in question. "That - that's it?"
Xander rubbed his wrist. "Yeah, that's... it."
Faith nodded, a bit numbly. Thought so.
He turned to walk back towards the door but stopped before he took even two steps. "No, that's not it." He turned back around.
As he did, Faith sat up in bed, staring silently at him.
"I love you. I know this is probably a little awkward at the most, and you probably don't want to hear it after what happened, but I just want you to know it. Whatever you thought when you saw me and Initiative Gal, it's not true. God, how much can I tell you how true it's not? I'd NEVER do that to you, Faith, I swear to it. I miss you." He dipped his head. "Anyway, just... I just wanted you to know that. Okay, um, so... I'll see you."
Faith sat rooted in place, then jumped up - moving about as fast as she ever had - and grabbed Xander again, this time considerably more gently than before. "Where do you think you're going?"
Xander looked deeply into her eyes. "I'm... I'm doing what you probably want me to do. I just... I just came to drop off your phone. I suck, Faith, a lot. I knew I was gonna screw up. So, you know, I could see this whole thing happening." He forced a smile. "If you weren't gonna leave on your own along this trip, I knew I'd make you - one stupid way or another. It's the Xander Harris way."
"Sounds to me like you gotta stop being THAT Xander Harris," Faith said, tugging him back away from the door. "And more like the one I let hang out with my bad self..."
Was it that she was giving him a chance? Or was that just hope talking in his ear? "Faith, that Xander Harris is part of Xander Harris. But whatever I can do to at least get my 'sorries' answered, I'll do it... as long as it doesn't include me having to eat anything gross like bugs or intestines." He dared put his hand on her cheek. "Other than that, anything."
"Hm." Faith nodded slowly, deep in thought. "Two things..."
"Okay," he said, letting his hand drop but nodding solemnly to show he was serious.
"First... never lay another hand on an Army chick," Faith told him.
"Uh, but what if she's trying to attack you and I have to... just joking. Yes, that I can do. No Army chick touching."
Faith smiled thinly. "And second... come here," she whispered, drawing him towards the bed.
Xander couldn't help the grin traveling over his lips as they headed towards the bed. He slowly let her on the bed. "I missed you so much, Faith," he whispered.
"Missed you too," Faith replied as she removed her nightshirt.
"Promise me something?"
"What?" she asked, peering at him.
"Don't leave like that, okay? Let's talk, maybe go in the ring, fight it out. But... just not like that. I think it was about the worst feeling in the world."
Faith stared down at the sheets, then nodded. "I promise," she told him in a low voice, barely even a whisper.
He made her look back at him. "Hey, we're both learning as we go, okay?"
"Guess we are," she replied with a shaky grin.
He kissed her gently. "I do love you, though, Faith. Is that... scary?"
Faith looked up at him. "No..." she conceded. "Scary is - I don't know."
"Miss Fearless. It's why I keep you around," he teased. "Or... what IS scary, Faith?"
"You not loving me," Faith confessed. "You leaving."
Xander blinked, surprised at her answer. "Faith... never." He kissed her again, passionately, to show that scenario would NEVER happen. He couldn't even imagine that happening. When he pulled back, he had a twinkle in his dark eyes. "Hey, our love is so amazing that it led me to you without even knowing where you went."
"Hey, how did you find me?" Faith asked, giving him a curious look.
"What, you don't believe what I just told you?" he asked, feigning a hurt look.
Faith snickered. "Come on. Seriously."
He looked over at the cell phone. "I got a call."
"Ahh. Let me guess."
He looked back at her. "An old pal of mine somehow got your number and somehow knew you didn't have it on you. She even left a key for me to get in here, which, by the way, was probably a BAD idea since I almost didn't leave with out my hand." He brushed her hair away from her face. "Buffy pretty much ordered me to come down here. But since I'm kinda done listening to her, I figure it wouldn't hurt to come on my own. It's been a long time since I've appreciated something Buffy's done for me." He smiled sadly. "I'm glad she called."
"So am I," Faith said, making a mental note to thank Buffy herself next time they ran into each other. Shouldn't be long, she thought, then frowned a little at that odd thought. Then she pushed it all aside. "So..."
"So... I'm tired," he said, moving to her side and wrapping his arms around her. "I've been driving here as fast as my car could go. I got pulled over at the Tennessee/Georgia line." He yawned but blinked away the sleepiness. "But I have some energy left." Then he yawned again.
"Some?" Faith asked, wrapping her arms around his waist.
"Hey, if you want some of this, you better hurry before whatever's left goes away..." He was already nudging his head against her, just to keep her close, and to get more comfortable.
"Always," Faith said, pressing her lips up against Xander and pushing him back down onto the bed.